Pittsburgh Politics

On a grey Memorial Day weekend, notes from watching too much sports television . . .

England 2, United States 1: England brought the B team, and the United States still couldn't finish. The USA has two quality finishers (Donovan and Johnson) but didn't have them both on the field, and it showed. England also exposed American weakness in central midfield and central defense. The Americans were listless in the first half. They played with spirit (if not a lot of organization) for the second 45 minutes but couldn't find the net more than once. It looked like a great atmosphere in Chicago. US Soccer should be happy, but Bruce Arena can't be.

Danica Patrick finished fourth at the Indy 500, and a few more experienced drivers are so scared of her that they're complaining that she doesn't weigh enough. Jeez. If human weight matters so much in racing, why haven't team owners been hiring jockeys or putting weight restriction clauses into driver contracts? Get over it, guys. This was the first time in years that I've watched any of this race, and between Patrick and the international flavor of the field as a whole, it was worth it.

I don't understand the rules of lacrosse, but it's fun to watch, even on TV. Hopkins and Virginia played a scoreless but entertaining first quarter on Saturday before Hopkins gutted out a 9-8 win. I'll be watching the Duke/Hopkins final today.